Mind My Education presents the CoreAtlas Trilogy ~ A set of fantastical spatial learning maps and metacognitive guidebooks to guide yourself through the Common Core Math, Language Arts, & Next Generation Science Standards... personal QUESTS too! Now taking pre-sale orders for Grades 3-4-5 for this summer and next school year.

The FAQ below will help you dive deeper.

Start here with the big picture...

How the app works:

In your www.CoreAtlas.io menu (accessed in the top right corner of your screen), click Students. There, you can add/edit/delete student accounts.

Watch this video for a quick tutorial:

Where's my Teacher Dashboard?

CoreAtlas lets you see student self-grades and metacognition across all learning standards, giving you a Teacher Dashboard that will help you differentiate instruction confidently and quickly - like never before.

Charts and Gradebook show how your students have graded themselves on Quests. Plus, you can assign grades from your perspective.

Watch this quick tour of Charts:

How do I respond to my students in the app?

Your feedback to student questions, challenges, plans, and evidence related to each learning standard (Quest) helps them advance - your feedback is more powerful than you know!

3 ways to give students in-app feedback:

1. Charts: Click on any bar in the graph displayed (you can click on a student or a Quest), and respond to their posts.
2. Gradebook: Click on "Add Note" and then, "Respond to Student Posts". 3. Message Center: Click on the mailbox near the top right of your screen, and respond to any posts you see there, organized by student.

Discover tools for giving in-app feedback in the video below:

Where are the practice problems?

CoreAtlas organizes all the Math/Science/Reading/Writing you teach, and makes any curriculum or teaching style you prefer more effective by leveraging self-assessment, metacognition, and feedback. CoreAtlas is not a "drill & skill" app. The illustration paired with each learning Quest is not a practice problem; it shows an example of the learning goal being applied in real life, to help your students imagine what success might look like.

For each Quest, your students can learn more on their own by clicking the Resources button on the bottom left of their screen. Resources will take them to a Google Safe Search of videos for that learning standard.

Absolutely! Add as many additional "Guides" to your students' accounts as you like. Watch this video for a quick tutorial:

Can students explore more than one grade level in CoreAtlas?

Yes! We know student learning in your classroom is all over the map - some students need a review of last year, and some students are ready to progress to future concepts...

Click Students in your menu, and edit a student's account. You'll see that you can select which grade level the student has access to. You decide!

My free trial ends soon. How do I keep my account?

We are offering CoreAtlas for free through June 30th. Email us at info@MindMyEducation.com if your trial is set to end sooner than that. Parents can continue their children's accounts through the summer by purchasing a subscription to www.CoreAtlas.io here.Contact us for school/district pricing.

Using the app in your classroom:

How do I introduce CoreAtlas to my students?

The introductory video below, made for students, will help - we recommend you watch it as a whole class and discuss their questions together.

Here's a simple, 30 minute lesson plan you might try: 1. Watch the introductory video (below) as a class and discuss.
2. Next, model exploring a Quest (maybe something you just taught them?).
3. Students now explore that Quest on their own by grading themselves and posting their thinking.
4. Meanwhile, you can use Charts to track student self-grades, see student thinking, and respond, all in real-time.
5. Wrap up discussion: What did they notice? What do they wonder?

How does CoreAtlas help me personalize learning?

Because all of your students are self-grading and practicing metacognition with CoreAtlas, all of them are getting an individualized brain workout at the same time.

Meanwhile, you get instant access to their thinking, so you can:Give feedback: Student questions, challenges, plans, evidence... You can respond to these posts, and push their thinking!Differentiate instruction: In Charts, you can instantly see leveled groupings for your lessons. Student metacognitive posts will help you plan effective, targeted small group intervention lessons.

How do other teachers use CoreAtlas?

Teachers report great success with these ideas:

1. Homework pre-view (or re-view): CoreAtlas doesn’t have to be used during the school day to have a powerful impact! This week, assign Quests that you plan to teach next week as homework. Students get to know the learning goals, grade themselves, and add their thinking ahead of time… so before you plan your lessons, you can look at Charts and know exactly what they want help with!

2. Whole class right before/during/ & or after a lesson: If your class has 1-to-1 access, your students can self-grade right before your lesson, and add their thinking, record their work, or adjust their learning meter self-grade throughout. It will keep them focused on their learning goal to activate critical thinking about it right before you start teaching!

3. Center station: Small groups of students can rotate to a CoreAtlas center, exploring Quests you plan to teach the next day or week (or returning to Quests they want to improve).

4. Conferring with students: Sit with a student one-on-one, explore their map together, perhaps focusing on Quests the student has self-graded at Not Yet. It will help you get the most out of your time together to see exactly what each student wants help with across the curriculum.

Can you give me an example of CoreAtlas in the classroom?

Imagine, you're going to teach adding & subtracting fractions tomorrow, and you have a lesson planned for it.

1. Find the Quest # by clicking on the magnifying tool in the bottom left of your map screen (or have your students find the Quest #!)

2. Assign that Quest to students (either by telling them, writing it on the board, or you could send an in-app message to "All Students" through the Message Center.

3. Students will now start their Critical Thinking Groove with CoreAtlas. They will grade themselves, post their thinking, and add the badge to their maps.

4. Now you can visit Charts to see who feels confident about this concept, and who doesn't. If students self-graded as Got It, and they posted solid evidence, you might want to offer them a challenge activity. If students self-graded as Got It without evidence, ask them to post some. Not Yet students could be pulled aside for some small group work.

5. After the lesson (Maybe as homework? Bell work tomorrow morning?), have students return to the Quest and post any new thinking. Keep the learning conversation going!

Pro Teacher Tips:

Will CoreAtlas help my students prepare for the end of the year test?

Yes! Try having your students focus on all of their Not Yet Quests and visit Resources to progress their learning.

Since CoreAtlas covers all the Math & Language Arts your students will be tested on, the app can be an excellent review tool to make sure your students have confidently mastered what they need to know.

Some students are over- or under-estimating themselves when they self-grade. What do I do?

When students lack self-awareness, it is an excellent opportunity to have a conversation. You are helping them understand their own learning better, which is crucial for their success.

Students that under-estimate their ability might need a confidence boost from you. Try: sending an in-app message of support, pulling the student aside to share your observations of his/her success, or displaying their work as an example of success to the rest of the class.

Students that over-estimate their ability might not pay attention to your lessons as closely as they need to - unless you help them become more self-aware. A kind, direct conversation (whether in-app or in-person) will help them gain self-awareness and encourage their participation during your lesson, because now they know they still have work to do!

Some students just type "Try harder" or "Practice" as their plan. How do I help them level up their metacognition?

“I did this in class” isn’t convincing; your students might need modeling to learn what is viable evidence, and what is not. Do a mini-lesson on what counts as evidence. Ask your students, How can you prove that you’ve Got It? Brainstorm ideas with your class, write them on chart paper, and post them.

Some suggestions you might want to include in the brainstorm:

Create & solve a practice problemDescribe a time when you mastered the QuestPost a picture of your workDraw a model

The research behind CoreAtlas:

Why self-grading?

In Dr. John Hattie’s Visible Learning, a meta-meta-anaylsis of over 250 million students, he found that the #1 influence on academic achievement (in terms of student effects) is self-report grading. When students grade themselves, they set their expectations for how well they are reaching a learning goal. Now they are able to take an active role in their learning, and you have the information you need to differentiate instruction!

Are elementary-aged students capable of grading themselves?

Young children are more accurate with their metacognitive self-assessments than you might think. Dr. Metcalfe, of Columbia University, published a study in 2013 showing that 3rd and 5th graders self-assess accurately more than 80% of the time.

Why is it so important to put learning standards in kid-friendly language? Aren't the standards for the teachers?

Your students are far more likely to reach learning goals when they know what those goals are. In fact, research shows that making learning goals clear to students is essential for achievement. The problem? Common Core & Next Generation Science Standards were written at a college reading level!

CoreAtlas Quests translate learning standards into kid-friendly language with audio support. Now your students know what their goals are and can take charge of their learning.

A side note: The Illustration shows an example of the Quest in action - which can spark a mini-lesson or conversation!

ref: Seidel, Clarity and coherence of lesson goals as a scaffold for student learning. 2005

Why the map?

Spatial mapping is an ancient mnemonic device, used by memory masters for thousands of years - from Aristotle to the modern Sherlock Holmes. When what we’re learning is laid out visually, we humans can remember it better.

Metacognition? Do my students need that?

Cognition = Thinking. Meta = On top of. Meta-Cognition = Thinking on top of thinking.

Meta-cognition is the process of thinking about one's thinking, and it is highly correlated with academic success.

Successful learners in your class most likely practice metacognition already; they ask themselves questions, think about their challenges, and make plans to overcome those challenges.

In CoreAtlas, ALL of your students practice meta-cognition, scaffolded for their self-reported level. Not Yet students are prompted to write questions and think of people they can ask to help them. On My Way students write their challenges and come up with plans to overcome those challenges. Got It students provide evidence, and think of people they can help.

These meta-cognition posts, whether typed, as pictures, or drawings, give you key insights into where students are stuck, and how you can help.